Summary: Rose is still trying to protect Lissa but now there is another set of problems to deal with. She’s missing her best friend; the man she loves is one she can’t be with; there’s a boy who wants to be more than just friends; and someone’s killing royalty...and her friend could be next.
Filled with lots of drama...the ’surprises’ weren’t that surprising but overall it was fairly decent. The book definitely made way for a third in the series...which is frustrating because I don’t like waiting for books.
Sigh.
Author: Christopher Golden
Title: The Boys are Back in Town
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Rating: 4
Summary: Will shows up at his ten year high school reunion expecting, at worst, to deal with some left-over feelings toward his ex-girlfriend. Instead, he discovers that people he talked to only last week have been dead for years, his friends’ lives are being changed before his lives and, in other words, his past is changing before his very eyes. If he doesn’t figure out who is messing with his life, the results are going to be very bad indeed...
Summary: Based on the life of young Catherine de’Medici, this book shows the turmoils, difficulties and triumphs she faced. She was an interesting woman who was not only one of Italy’s most intelligent and rich women but also the Queen of France.
Author: Scott Westerfield
Title: The Last Days
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Rating: 3
Summary: Moz, Minerva, Alana Ray, Pearl and Zahler are trying to become a rocking, famous band. There’s only a couple of problems. The world is ending; several of the band members are really sick; and the band’s music calls forth evil entities.
A sort-of sequel to "Peeps", this book picks up in the world terrorized by the decision to accept the lesser of two great evils.
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Title: Personal Demon
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Rating: 4
Summary: Not as good as her other books...
Hope needs to learn how to control her inner urges before someone she loves gets hurt. In the meantime, she finds herself caught up in a carefree gang that is everything Hope is not, and everything she secretly wants to be.
It’s definitely much better than I’m describing but I don’t want to spoil anything...Armstrong is a must read for fantasy fans.
Author: Ellen Schrieber
Title: Vampireville/Dance with a Vampire
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Rating: 3
Summary: Once bored out of her mind, now Raven finds herself trying to beat off her overly amorous nemesis, spend time with her beloved boyfriend Alexander, and defeat an entire family set out to ruin her and Alexander. Oh yeah...and she has to decide if she is ready to spend eternity with Alexander...even if it means leaving the rest of her world behind.
Sometimes a girl has it hard.
Author: Ellen Schrieber
Title: Vampire Kisses/Kissing Coffins
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Rating: 3
Summary: Raven has always dreamed of being part of the dark Underworld. When she meets Alexander, however, her young teen heart is content to know that she’s finally found someone (undead or not) who loves her completely. Soon, however, Raven discovers that perhaps Alexander is even more perfect than she could have ever imagined.
The story continues in book two...decent reads but not overly special.
Summary: In Dating4Demons, Piper (the sidekick of the other books in the series) finds herself in a leading role. Something is out to get her best friend. Piper is pretty sure it’s a guy named Hunter...which is a problem because she’s falling for him almost as fast as weird things are happening...
Dragon's Bait is one of those books worth picking up every so often. Alys has been sentenced as a witch and ordered to be given to the dragon as a sacrifice. There are only two problems...she’s not a witch and the dragon is more interested in helping her than eating her...very good book.
Author: Alex Duval
Title: Bloodlust/Initiation
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Rating: 3
Summary: Jason arrives at a new school in Malibu only to discover that the most popular students have a most deadly secret.
As he and his friend set out to find the truth, he must must deal with his growing feelings for Sienna.
In the second installment, Jason receives a blast from the past. As he tries to handle the two very different worlds, he finds himself in critical danger...from a most unlikely source.
Author: Alex Duval
Title: Legacy
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Rating: 4
Summary: Still predictable but more entertaining...
Jason’s life is falling apart. Just when Sienna and he finally get together, her parents try and separate them. Then his aunt arrives in town and offers a tempting and scary proposition.
Worse, his younger sister is beginning to date one of the elite.
Jason knows that something deeper is going on...and he'd better find out what it is before he or his sister make a mistake they will regret the rest of their lives.
Author: Alex Duval
Title: Ritual
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Rating: 3-4
Summary: Somewhere between a 3 and a 4...
This book was better but still predictable.
Jason thinks life might be going his way. The love of his life is possibly breaking up with her boyfriend and he's adapting to Malibu. Then Jason gets shot with a bow and arrow. As the body count mounts, it’s up to Jason and Adam to convince the elite that they are the targets...
Author: Chris Wooding
Title: The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray
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Rating: 4-5
Summary: Somewhere between a 4 and a 5 (and the buttons got stuck).
Thaniel and his mentor/friend Cathaline try to protect Alaizabel, a girl with a troubled past and an even more troubled future. Soon, however, they learn that fate has strategically brought them together so that they can stop the Fraternity from destroying London and possibly even the world.
Author: Marianne Curley
Title: Old Magic
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Rating: 4
Summary: Kate and Jarrod don't always see eye to eye, which is fun since the book alternates between their first person perspectives. When Jarrod finds himself trusting Kate to help him protect his family, however, the two discover that they actually have quite a bit in common. Traveling far away (both in distance and time) they must learn to trust one another...and more importantly themselves.
Decent read...first half was kind of annoying.
Author: Meg Cabot
Title: Big Boned
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Rating: 3
Summary: Perhaps the best book in the series...
Heather is caught up in another murder mystery...but this time she's also trapped in a real tangle of a love triangle. As she tries to solve another whodunit, she tries to find out who she is and what it means to be happy.
The ending was the best part but it was too short.
Summary: Aza is a wonderful singer in a land of great singers but she is also painfully unattractive. When she gets the opportunity to go to the court, she finds herself caught in a web of deceit but she also finds herself being loved by a wonderful prince. In an inventive retelling of Snow White, the author addresses issues of beauty, envy, love and kindness in a story full of magic, light and song. Good book.
Author: Ira Levin
Title: Rosemary's Baby
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Rating: 5
Summary: The classic tale of horror that has left countless readers with shudders late into the night.
Rosemary and Guy have moved into a new and exciting place; but strange things keep happeing at the apartment complex. When Rosemary gets pregnant, she tries to forget about her weird neighbors, distant husband and strange dreams. As things progress, however, she begins to wonder if anyone is on her side and who, or rather what, is growing within her.
Author: Holly Black
Title: Ironside: A Modern Faery's Tale
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Rating: 4
Summary: The best of the three...
Kaye finds herself struggling to discover who she is and where she belongs. When the pledge she makes to her king and love turns out poorly, Kaye must figure out a way somehow save him and obtain the unobtainable. Oh yeah...and she also has to protect her friends, save a kingdom and give her mom the 'real' Kaye back...
Author: Holly Black
Title: Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie
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Rating: 3
Summary: Val, finds her boyfriend interacting with her own mother in a most scandalous way. So, she runs away, shaves her head and starts living with homeless people. As she struggles to find her place and to come to terms with her past, she discovers that there is another world she never knew about. Slowly getting sucked into that world, Val must decide if she is strong enough to fight: for her life, her dignity, her strength, her friends and her love.
Author: Holly Black
Title: A Modern Faerie Tale
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Rating: 3
Summary: I didn't like the main character for the majority of the book.
Kaye has always been a little different. She has friends no one else can see. When her life gets sucked into a plot to destroy entire kingdoms, however, Kaye realizes that no one can be trusted. Including the man she can't seem to forget...
Author: Scott Westerfield
Title: Peeps
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Rating: 4
Summary: Cal is trying to find the mysterious person who infected him nearly a year earlier. Soon, however, he realizes that he's involved in a plot that goes beyond his boss, his job, even humanity itself. As Cal tries to figure out who in the plot is good and who is bad, he always finds himself trying not to fall in love with an innocent girl who has no place in his world.
Author: Lauren Myracle
Title: Ryhmes with Witches
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Rating: 3
Summary: Jane suddenly finds herself part of the popular girls...a group loved and envied by all. But what seems beautiful from the outside is, Jane quickly discovers, quite ugly from within. Jane realizes that she must make a decision between being popular or true to her heart.
The ending was terrible...there were several unfinished plot lines and I felt the last bit was too didactic.
Colby has found herself in a most unique situation...her canines were removed for braces and now that she's been changed, she can't eat! Her father makes her headgear so that she won't starve but she can't help but be a little embarrassed. To make matters worse, people want her dead.
In the second book, she's convinced the people who wanted her dead that she's more handy alive. Now, she just has to run a sorority house full of girls just like her. If only she could figure out which girl is slowing killing the other members of the house...
Author: M.T. Anderson
Title: Thirsty
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Rating: 4
Summary: Chris, a typical teenager, finds himself dealing with the usual pressures and angsts of being misunderstood and alone. Now, however, he has a whole new set of problems to deal with. And if he doesn't figure out how to take care of saving the world, he's going to be more alone than he's ever imagined.
Author: Rachel Vincent
Title: Rogue
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Rating: 4
Summary: Faythe discovers she committed a fatal mistake, albeit accidentally, right before she left to return her family’s home. Desperate to right her wrong, she finds herself caught between her old and new lives, caught between the future she wanted and the man she loves.
The book ends with a slight cliff-hanger...looking forward to the next one.
Author: Rachel Vincent
Title: Stray
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Rating: 4
Summary: Faythe has tried her hardest to escape the life her family wishes her to lead. When danger strikes close, however, Faythe must return home and face her family's misguided love and Marc, the man she left at the altar. When she gets kidnapped, she fights back with everything in her, realizing that perhaps her family heritage isn't as terrible a thing after all.
Some new ideas but I could have sworn the author took a plot straight out of one of my favorite author's books and just added a twist.
Summary: Leslie has had a hard life. Her family is dangerous, her friends are busy and all she wants is to take some control in her life. She decides to mark her body as her own, with a tatoo. The tatoo she eventually decides upon, however, has ties to a world that is more dangerous than anything Leslie had ever imagined. The book was well-written but a lot more dismal than Marr's previous (and excellent) work "Wicked Lovely".